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This revolution is bringing various factions together - the perenial problem of divided opposition still benefits the regime however the trends are encouraging.

This revolution is bringing various factions together - the perenial problem of divided opposition still benefits the regime however the trends are encouraging. The voices of the opposition are rather prominent, and in some cases (like Masih) somewhat a force of nature. https://giwps.georgetown.edu/event/the-future-of-irans-democracy-movement-event/ https://giwps.georgetown.edu/event/the-future-of-irans-democ... "Eight of the Iranian democracy movement’s prominent diaspora leaders presented a united vision for Iran’s future for the first time since the 2022 uprisings began at a summit hosted by the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS). The diverse group — which included actresses Nazanin Boniadi and Golshifteh Farahani, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi, activists Masih Alinejad and Dr. Hamed Esmaeilion; former soccer captain Ali Karimi, former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, and Kurdish leader Abdullah Mohtadi — plans to produce a joint charter by the end of February."

JumpCrisscross 4y ago
Can anyone recommend a political history of the Islamic Republic? How did a democratic movement wind up with a supreme leader?
- layer8 4y ago
  Short story: The leader of the democratic revolution, a radical Muslim cleric, made himself the Supreme Leader for life, enshrined in the new constitution by referendum. Effectively, the people voted democratically to be subjected to another form of authoritarianism. See [0] for a short summary. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran#1979 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran#1979
- Khaine 4y ago
  High level summary: The Shah tried to rapidly westernise Iran[1], and in doing so became deeply unpopular with Islamic Fundamentalists. His reforms also upset some of the Iranian 'elite' (whose land was redistributed), and his fig leaf democracy upset secularists who wanted more power. The killing of around 400 protestors lead to a general uprising, with the 'elites', and secularists allaying with the fundamentalists to overthrow the Shah. The elites/secularists thought they would take over, but actually had the rug pulled out from under them and the fundamentalists taking over. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Revolution
  - JumpCrisscross 4y ago
    > elites/secularists thought they would take over, but actually had the rug pulled out from under them and the fundamentalists taking over I’m curious about this. Not the short story. Is there a source you’d recommend?
    - Khaine 4y ago
      I learned most of what I know by visiting Iran. I'm not sure what would be a good book to read about this period of history.
- defrost 4y ago
  You start with a pure popular democracy that the people love .. and then you piss of the USofA and UK by making independant decisions as a nation: In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was appointed as the Prime Minister of Pahlavi Iran. After the nationalization of Iran's oil industry, he became enormously popular. He was deposed in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, an Anglo-American covert operation that marked the first time the United States had participated in an overthrow of a foreign government during the Cold War. . . .the U.S.- and UK-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh installed the monarchical rule of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi leading to ~ 25 years of a US puppet government After the coup, the Shah became increasingly autocratic and sultanistic, and Iran entered a decades-long phase of controversially close relations with the United States and some other foreign governments. While the Shah increasingly modernized Iran and claimed to retain it as a fully secular state, arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police, the SAVAK, were used for crushing all forms of political opposition. which made the religuous fundementalist opposition popular enough to stage a coup and install a "supreme leader". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...
- eternalban 4y ago
  It's a complex story. https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/shares/AP/20190201/16274e55ab6b47ee8a13eaacb87de8dd.jpg https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/shares/AP/20190201/... Also I am not sure "democratic movement" is at all correct. There was a revolution but the leading groups behind it were decidedly not democratic. I was a newly minted teen in Tehran when this happened. Ostensibly the trigger event was an anonymous op-ed in a leading Tehran daily that strangely dragged the name of Khomeini back into center stage. https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/forty-years-since-the-spark-that-began-iran-s-last-revolution-1.693234 https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/forty-years-since... At that time, Khomeini was in exile in Iraq under the watchful eyes of Sadam Hussein. Two basic dynamics set the revolution into motion. Leftist and Islamist. The leftists were card carrying USSR affiliates Tudeh Party (The Masses), various student-cum-revolutionary Marxists, Marxists-Leninists, Maoists, etc. Prominently (because of their armed attacks on police stations, banks, etc. earlier in 70s) there was hard left secular Fadayein and "Islamic-Marxist" Mujahedin Khalgh (MKO, ..., they have a whole collection of acrynoms). Mujahedin had a sort of spiritual guide in Ayatollah Taleghani. But for a good while after the overthrow of the regime, they went around mouthing "Imam Khomeini" until the said Imam decided he didn't need them anymore. But we digress. Taleghani was one of the reasons people were beguiled because he made very socialist/democratic pronouncements. He ended up dying "suddenly" a few months after revolution, when Khomeini was asserting his demi-god status. So "democratic"? Well, the communists are democratics in their sense of the word, kinda like CPC is democratic if you ask them. As for MKO, a brief review of their sordid history and that whole bizare show they have going on with their all female army and female leader (complete with Hijab) also should give you an idea regarding their "democratic" credentials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Taleghani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Taleghani Among the Islamists, you had people like Chamran. A genius geek who went Islamist radical. He started what became Hizbollah (or Amal). [He said he worked at Bell Labs and JPL.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostafa_Chamran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostafa_Chamran The only group having any real claims to "democratic" leanings were the National Front. Their leadership made a foolish error and went to Paris to kiss the ring. Khomeini may have enjoyed humiliating them. A lone dissenter from National Front, Shapur Bakhtiar accepted to become PM before Shah left Iran. He was the lone sane voice asking pointed questions about the "holy man who lies" and refusing to kiss the ring. Khomeini in the interim flew into Tehran on Air France (yes! French military pilots, and packed with press, spooks, and handlers) and got a frenzied reception, and immediately upon touch down pretty much told all the also-rans to basically go fuck themselves. Bakhtiar at this point, still head of the last government of Pahlavi dynasty, was betrayed by some key members of the military leadership. They started direct negotiations with Khomeini, at the urging of an American General (who flew to Iran before Shah left). This is what is alleged by former regime officials and military (see Harvard's Iran Oral History Project) but denied by the said general. Regardless, the military declared itself "neutral". Bakhtiar did escape to Paris but ended up getting butchered (literally) by IR regime goons sent after him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapour_Bakhtiar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapour_Bakhtiar MKO and Khomeini later go on to lock horns, including spectacular assassinations by MKO and massive execution sprees by the Ayatollah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadegh_Ghotbzadeh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadegh_Ghotbzadeh Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, who used to have a little Islamist revolutionary office right on Dupont Circle -- oh yes -- and who none other than Robert F. Kennedy intervened on his behalf to prevent his deporation -- visa issues -- is an interesting character and no doubt many quarters are happy he is quite dead. Now, Sadegh, unlike the guy from Green Book, didn't play the piano and was quite a ladies man, the very smooth and English speaking voice and face of Ayatollah in Paris and then later in Iran, so I am not exactly sure why RFK felt his personal intervention was necessary. He was executed by Khomeini later on after admitting under torture to being a CIA agent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/12/13/ghotbzadeh-stormy-d-c-student-days/ce86d3c0-f9ba-431a-aa77-d1da0c1505a3/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/12/13/g... "Only the timely intervention of a New Jersey senator and then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy saved him from a quick deportation. as a communist to face charges of treason in Iran." [that's actually funny.]

JumpCrisscross 4y ago

Can anyone recommend a political history of the Islamic Republic? How did a democratic movement wind up with a supreme leader?

layer8 4y ago
Short story: The leader of the democratic revolution, a radical Muslim cleric, made himself the Supreme Leader for life, enshrined in the new constitution by referendum. Effectively, the people voted democratically to be subjected to another form of authoritarianism. See [0] for a short summary. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran#1979 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supreme_Leader_of_Iran#1979
Khaine 4y ago
High level summary: The Shah tried to rapidly westernise Iran[1], and in doing so became deeply unpopular with Islamic Fundamentalists. His reforms also upset some of the Iranian 'elite' (whose land was redistributed), and his fig leaf democracy upset secularists who wanted more power. The killing of around 400 protestors lead to a general uprising, with the 'elites', and secularists allaying with the fundamentalists to overthrow the Shah. The elites/secularists thought they would take over, but actually had the rug pulled out from under them and the fundamentalists taking over. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Revolution
- JumpCrisscross 4y ago
  > elites/secularists thought they would take over, but actually had the rug pulled out from under them and the fundamentalists taking over I’m curious about this. Not the short story. Is there a source you’d recommend?
  - Khaine 4y ago
    I learned most of what I know by visiting Iran. I'm not sure what would be a good book to read about this period of history.
defrost 4y ago
You start with a pure popular democracy that the people love .. and then you piss of the USofA and UK by making independant decisions as a nation: In 1951, Mohammad Mosaddegh was appointed as the Prime Minister of Pahlavi Iran. After the nationalization of Iran's oil industry, he became enormously popular. He was deposed in the 1953 Iranian coup d'état, an Anglo-American covert operation that marked the first time the United States had participated in an overthrow of a foreign government during the Cold War. . . .the U.S.- and UK-instigated, Iranian army-led overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh installed the monarchical rule of the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi leading to ~ 25 years of a US puppet government After the coup, the Shah became increasingly autocratic and sultanistic, and Iran entered a decades-long phase of controversially close relations with the United States and some other foreign governments. While the Shah increasingly modernized Iran and claimed to retain it as a fully secular state, arbitrary arrests and torture by his secret police, the SAVAK, were used for crushing all forms of political opposition. which made the religuous fundementalist opposition popular enough to stage a coup and install a "supreme leader". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9tat https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1953_Iranian_coup_d%27%C3%A9ta...
eternalban 4y ago
It's a complex story. https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/shares/AP/20190201/16274e55ab6b47ee8a13eaacb87de8dd.jpg https://tnimage.s3.hicloud.net.tw/photos/shares/AP/20190201/... Also I am not sure "democratic movement" is at all correct. There was a revolution but the leading groups behind it were decidedly not democratic. I was a newly minted teen in Tehran when this happened. Ostensibly the trigger event was an anonymous op-ed in a leading Tehran daily that strangely dragged the name of Khomeini back into center stage. https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/forty-years-since-the-spark-that-began-iran-s-last-revolution-1.693234 https://www.thenationalnews.com/world/mena/forty-years-since... At that time, Khomeini was in exile in Iraq under the watchful eyes of Sadam Hussein. Two basic dynamics set the revolution into motion. Leftist and Islamist. The leftists were card carrying USSR affiliates Tudeh Party (The Masses), various student-cum-revolutionary Marxists, Marxists-Leninists, Maoists, etc. Prominently (because of their armed attacks on police stations, banks, etc. earlier in 70s) there was hard left secular Fadayein and "Islamic-Marxist" Mujahedin Khalgh (MKO, ..., they have a whole collection of acrynoms). Mujahedin had a sort of spiritual guide in Ayatollah Taleghani. But for a good while after the overthrow of the regime, they went around mouthing "Imam Khomeini" until the said Imam decided he didn't need them anymore. But we digress. Taleghani was one of the reasons people were beguiled because he made very socialist/democratic pronouncements. He ended up dying "suddenly" a few months after revolution, when Khomeini was asserting his demi-god status. So "democratic"? Well, the communists are democratics in their sense of the word, kinda like CPC is democratic if you ask them. As for MKO, a brief review of their sordid history and that whole bizare show they have going on with their all female army and female leader (complete with Hijab) also should give you an idea regarding their "democratic" credentials. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Taleghani https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahmoud_Taleghani Among the Islamists, you had people like Chamran. A genius geek who went Islamist radical. He started what became Hizbollah (or Amal). [He said he worked at Bell Labs and JPL.] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostafa_Chamran https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mostafa_Chamran The only group having any real claims to "democratic" leanings were the National Front. Their leadership made a foolish error and went to Paris to kiss the ring. Khomeini may have enjoyed humiliating them. A lone dissenter from National Front, Shapur Bakhtiar accepted to become PM before Shah left Iran. He was the lone sane voice asking pointed questions about the "holy man who lies" and refusing to kiss the ring. Khomeini in the interim flew into Tehran on Air France (yes! French military pilots, and packed with press, spooks, and handlers) and got a frenzied reception, and immediately upon touch down pretty much told all the also-rans to basically go fuck themselves. Bakhtiar at this point, still head of the last government of Pahlavi dynasty, was betrayed by some key members of the military leadership. They started direct negotiations with Khomeini, at the urging of an American General (who flew to Iran before Shah left). This is what is alleged by former regime officials and military (see Harvard's Iran Oral History Project) but denied by the said general. Regardless, the military declared itself "neutral". Bakhtiar did escape to Paris but ended up getting butchered (literally) by IR regime goons sent after him. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapour_Bakhtiar https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shapour_Bakhtiar MKO and Khomeini later go on to lock horns, including spectacular assassinations by MKO and massive execution sprees by the Ayatollah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadegh_Ghotbzadeh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sadegh_Ghotbzadeh Sadegh Ghotbzadeh, who used to have a little Islamist revolutionary office right on Dupont Circle -- oh yes -- and who none other than Robert F. Kennedy intervened on his behalf to prevent his deporation -- visa issues -- is an interesting character and no doubt many quarters are happy he is quite dead. Now, Sadegh, unlike the guy from Green Book, didn't play the piano and was quite a ladies man, the very smooth and English speaking voice and face of Ayatollah in Paris and then later in Iran, so I am not exactly sure why RFK felt his personal intervention was necessary. He was executed by Khomeini later on after admitting under torture to being a CIA agent. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/12/13/ghotbzadeh-stormy-d-c-student-days/ce86d3c0-f9ba-431a-aa77-d1da0c1505a3/ https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1979/12/13/g... "Only the timely intervention of a New Jersey senator and then-Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy saved him from a quick deportation. as a communist to face charges of treason in Iran." [that's actually funny.]